Historical Linguistics - Theory And Method

This book goes beyond the boundaries of a standard text, using controversial and compelling ideas to explore the relationship between fundamental concepts in historical linguistics.



An original and engaging introduction to the subject of historical linguistics






Presents controversial but compelling ideas in developing a clear understanding as to why historical linguistics has had significant success in some domains, such as phonological history, and why it is considerably less successful in others






Explores the relationship between fundamental concepts in historical linguistics, topics such as 'language' and 'change', and corresponding notions in contemporary (synchronic) linguistic theory






Features extensive discussion of traditional and theoretically-oriented historical work in the domains of phonology and syntax.

Mark Hale is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Concordia University, Montreal. His research centers on the relationship between contemporary theoretical linguistics and traditional historical linguistic methodology.

Introduction.
Part I: “Language” and “Language Change”: Preliminaries.
1. What is “Language”?.
2. Linguistic Artifacts: Philology.
3. What is a “Descent” Relationship?.
Part II: Phonological Change.
4. Galilean-Style Phonology.
5. The Traditional Approach.
6. In-Depth Consideration of Selected Issues.
7. The Regularity of Sound Change.
Part III: Syntactic Change.
8. What is Syntactic Change?.
9. The Diachrony of Clitics: Phonology and Syntax.
Part IV: Reconstruction Methodology.
10. Reconstruction Methodology.
Part V: Concluding Remarks.
11. Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistics.
References.
Index